September 9, 2008

Bait bikes.

Don't steal a bike around here. Some of them are bait bikes and you will be caught.
Posted by Ann Althouse at 6:04 AM
Tags: , ,

16 comments:

American Liberal Elite said...

A few bait backpacks and bait laptops would be a good idea as well.

9/9/08, 6:27 AM
Kirk Parker said...

"This could be a bait post."

Better not take the risk of commenting...

9/9/08, 6:28 AM
Anonymous said...

Bait bikes, eh? Note to self: Do not borrow a bike in Madison that has minnows, crawlers, suckers or flies in the saddle bags. Doggone it, I'll have to start buying my own bait again.

You can't trust anyone anymore, especially people who live near lakes.

9/9/08, 6:41 AM
rhhardin said...

Bike thefts on campuses aren't real thefts, but rather a transportation opportunity.

The bike can usually be found abandoned at some campus hall or another.

9/9/08, 6:45 AM
MadisonMan said...

The good bikes get chopped up and sent to Chicago. Well, they used to. Now they're just sold on Craigslist.

9/9/08, 6:56 AM
goesh said...

So what happens to bike thieves at UW? Do they have to sit up straight during a one hour lecture on being responsible adults?

9/9/08, 7:06 AM
Trumpit said...

Bike theft is even more prevalent in Europe where bikes are more popular than in the U.S. and are more important as a means of transportation. I bought an expensive (U.S.-made!) Cannondale bike and was worried it would get stolen. A friend of mine is an amateur lock and safe "expert." He suggested I buy a (German-made!) Abus bike lock that would deter the thieves because it would take two tanks to pull the lock apart; it's that indestructable. I bought it directly from an Ebay seller in Germany using the internet. My bike won't be stolen unless the aluminum bike is cut in two. The downside is that the lock weighs a lot, defeating the purpose of owning a lightweight bike. Oh well, sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too.

9/9/08, 7:14 AM
chuckR said...

Went to the link and the first sentence (written by a journo major?) contains an awkward construction - "cut down the amount of" better expressed by "reduce the number of" bicycles stolen... So I jumped to the picture where the caption had a plural/singular conflict. The police may hope, but the police department hopes. Then I lost interest.

No wonder the U has a bike theft problem. If it can't assure that the student paper is free of simple errors like these, then is it not "stealing" at least a little of the students tuition?

The fish(es) rot(s) from the head.

9/9/08, 7:19 AM
rhhardin said...

He suggested I buy a (German-made!) Abus bike lock that would deter the thieves because it would take two tanks to pull the lock apart; it's that indestructable.

Two tanks pull with the same force as one tank.

9/9/08, 8:54 AM
MadisonMan said...

Two tanks pull with the same force as one tank.

Oh, it's like A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper!

I was listening to NPR yesterday, and there was a story about cutting down waste in lunchrooms by eliminating trays, and by dispensing napkins. The waste expert noted that previously, people were taking handfulls of napkins, but now they were being dispensed one at a time, and napkin usage dropped 50%. Doesn't that mean that everyone was taking 2 napkins, and now they're taking one? Since when is 2 napkins a handfull?

Maybe they're using all those napkins to clean off stolen bikes.

9/9/08, 9:01 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...

I bought an expensive (U.S.-made!) Cannondale bike

Try buying a Colnago or Bianchi and come talk to me about expensive.

I don't worry too much about my bike being ripped off mostly because unless the thief happens to be wearing cycling shoes with Speedplay cleats, he won't get too far.

Actually a neat trick to deter thieves is when you park your bike, use your bike tool and losen either the seat post or even better, the handlebar stem. Thief gets on bike starts peddeling, seat falls, handlebars swing out and splat.

Glorious.

9/9/08, 9:34 AM
Anonymous said...

An article from the Madison Cap Times:

MADISON..(FP) Mayor David Cieslewicz announced today the city's new program to attract homeowners to selected neighborhoods. The program, called "Bait House" temporarily lowers the property taxes on selected vacant single-family dwellings on order to attract buyers to those properties. "Shortly after each bait house is purchased, the City Assessor will be notified and the property's assessment will be returned to its pre-bait house level, or greater" explained Cieslewicz.

The bait house program has received support from many in the Madison community. David Winston-Foghat is a Madison resident and seventh-year senior at UW. "I think it's cool, dude. I mean, lure the shirts in with a phony assessment, then slam them with the mother of all tax bills! How awesome is that? Hit the bourgeisie fucks in the wallet, man." Similar sentiments were expressed by the other patrons in the bar on Williamson Street.

The Bait House program will continue through September after which the City plans to shift its resources. "We are planing to extend the Bait House concept to other parts of our community" said Cieslewicz, including "Bait Phoney ID Card" Bait Breast Implants", "Bait Co-Ed", "Bait Street Guy", and possibly "Bait Mike Lecrone" during UW's football season."

9/9/08, 10:15 AM
Peter V. Bella said...

Years ago there were a rash of burglaries in a particular neighborhood. The burglars would rip out the window air conditioners and make entry. One of the old timers firued out a way to electrify the ACs.

After a few instances of burglars getting fried the burglaries stopped. Case closed.

9/9/08, 10:22 AM
MadisonMan said...

One of the old timers firued out a way to electrify the ACs.

Dad did this with his doorknob in the 30s to keep his sisters out of his room.

To get a good feel of the idiocy that sometimes pervades Madison, check out the suggestion in the first letter here to rename the Ironman Competition! The wife and I got a good chuckle out of that this morning.

9/9/08, 10:48 AM
Peter V. Bella said...

Madisonman,

I like this one at the bottom of the same page better.

What happens if you don't 'toe the line'

I hope America's young ladies are keeping a close eye on the treatment Gov. Sarah Palin and her family have received since she was picked as Sen. John McCain's running mate.

I hope they see what happens to successful women when they eschew the leftist politics of the so-called "women's movement." The message is loud and clear: If you don't toe our line, you will feel the heat from a thousand suns -- your family, too. You will be savaged from the front page of the New York Times to the MTV awards show, to US Weekly magazine. You will be called an unfit mother. The paternity or even maternity of your children will be doubted.

You will be scolded for not aborting your babies and again for not staying at home to raise the ones you didn't abort. Your daughters will be called sluts. Your husband will be called a lush. Your looks will be mocked. The Democrats' media hand-maidens will spend more time investigating your children than your political opponent's ties to domestic terrorists.

Young ladies, you've been warned. If you choose to achieve greatness and your choices are not approved by the angry leftist feminist movement, you can expect the same treatment.

9/9/08, 1:14 PM
MadisonMan said...

That one, however, is less likely to be unique to Madison.

9/9/08, 1:17 PM

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